Ethnobotanical Study, Anatomical Study and Phytochemical Screening of Aristolochia longa L.

Aristolochia longa L. (Aristolochiaceae) is used in Algerian traditional medicine. The ethnobotanical study conducted in the region of Setif (East Algeria) has as an objective of evaluating the potential of the region of Aristolochia longa L. used in the treatment of different diseases. A questionnaire was used which consisted of the diseases treated by this plant, the part of the plant used in the treatment and how to use this plant. The survey targeted 100 people from the local population. We also evaluated the phytochemical composition of the aerial parts (stems and leaves), fruits and tubers. Our results showed that A. longa is widely used to treat several ailments such as cancer (43%), diabetes (17%), and treatment of wounds in cattle (12%), and intestinal and stomach diseases (9 and 7%), the most used part is tubers by 70%.Crushed tubers are commonly mixed with honey(44%), milk(24%), water (8%). Results of the phytochemical screening revealed that A. longa contained various bioactive compounds, including polyphenols, flavonoids, saponins, terpenoids, and Alkaloids. In addition, there is very little information concerning the anatomical and morphological structure of this species of Setif region (Algeria), a preliminary study on anatomy of this plant is therefore reported in this paper. These preliminary results could be used to justify the traditional use of this plant and their bioactive substances could be exploited for therapeutic purposes such as antioxidant, antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory, and may be considered as a promising source of new drugs for treating cancer. Keywords: Aristolochia longa L., ethnobotany Setif(Algeria), anatomical study of plant, phytochemical screening

Innovating tree plantation design: spiralographing agroforestry

PosterMost of forestry or agroforestry artificial plantations either have an orthogonal design, or curvilinear under contour lines to prevent soil erosion. These designs are known to maximize machinery workflow or erosion control respectively. As in many occasions in land use management, what optimizes machinery operation is not what optimizes prevention of soil loss and vice versa. An alternative and intermediate design system such as an Archimedes spiral could offer in one hand, the ability to have equidistant lines to facilitate machinery operation and, in other hand reduce soil loss in comparison to orthogonal designs. Additionally can be an alternative design when aesthetics plays a role in the planting decision. Although the spiral land use design is present in permaculture related literature, scaling up the methodology to forestry is practically absent in literature. This work tries to contribute to the knowledge of planting trees in an Archimedes spiral design. Making a spiral is a trivial command in computer assisted design, but this work envisaged the creation of the spiral in the field without any high technology software (e.g. tractor with laser technology) to enlarge the scope of possible application. We used the spiral equation to explore and define in the spiral: 1) the number of turns, 2) the distance between the arms and 3) the tree density. The widest machinery of the farmer was five meters so, to allow the tractor to move inwards and outwards in the spiral, we opted to design twelve meters between rows to allow 1 meter safety distance to the tree line. The final spiral would have three arms with two meters between trees in the line (240 trees). Part of the challenge was to implement the spiral with the exact dimensions in order to respect the farmer needs. To implement the spiral in the field a “field spiralographer” was made with the following description: an axis with about 1 meter high, where on top was placed a base with six equidistant arms. Each arm was made telescopic to allow different lengths of the arms. At 2 meters from the center the arms were marked and a screw pin was placed on the mark. A rope was rolled up around the screw pins. The number of complete turns is equal to the number of lines existing in the field spiral. Because the union of the screw pins in the arms’ builds a hexagon with 6 x 2 meters perimeter, a full turn has 12 meters length. To mark the spiral in the field, start unrolling the rope and walk at the same time avoiding a loose rope, marking the place for planting the trees. By the end of a full turn around the “spiralographer” there should be 12 meters distance between the first and last tree mark. By keeping unrolling the rope until needed, the spiral keeps being designed in the field depending on the turns needed. In other words, the “spiralographer” could be an hexagon with R radius, being 6xR, the distance between the lines in the spiral. Unrolling and keeping the rope unloose will provide a guide to mark the spiral in the field. Because the description might be unclear, a video was made showing the “making of” this spiral preparation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lzjT1UcJvM The experimental site is being used to survey operational costs to compare with conventional designs

Homogenous UV/Periodate Process for the Treatment of Acid Orange 10 Polluted Water

The photoactivated periodate (UV/IO4−) process is used to investigate the degradation of acid orange 10 (AO10) dye. The photodecomposition of periodate ions produces highly reactive radicals (i.e., •OH, IO3•, and IO4•) that accelerate dye degradation. Increasing the initial concentration of periodate to 3 mM enhances the dye removal rate, but over 3 mM periodate, the degradation rate slows down. On the contrary, increasing initial dye concentrations reduces the degradation performance. pH is the most critical factor in AO10 breakdown. Salts slow down the degradation of the dye. However, UV/IO4− is more efficient in distilled water than natural water. Even at low concentrations, surfactants may affect the dye’s decomposition rate. The addition of sucrose reduced the breakdown of AO10. Although tertbutanol is a very effective •OH radical scavenger, it does not affect the dye breakdown even at the highest concentrations. Accordingly, the AO10 degradation is a non-•OH pathway route. According to retrieved data, the photoactivated periodate method eliminated 56.5 and 60.5% of the initial COD after 60 and 120 min of treatment time; therefore, it can be concluded that the UV/IO4− system may treat effluents, especially those containing textile dyes

Influência da qualidade dos materiais de reprodução na reflorestação com sobreiro

O sobreiro ocupa em Portugal cerca de 721000 ha o que corresponde a 21,5 % da área fl orestal nacional e 33% da área mundial (APCOR, 2005). A sua distribuição no território nacional traduz não só a sua adaptação a determinadas condições edafo-climaticas, mas tem sido condicionada por várias circunstancias, como o arroteamento, o fogo, o abuso do pastoreio, a exploração agrícola intensiva e as plantações fl orestais que contrariaram ou favoreceram a sua existência nesses locais (Natividade, 1950). A distribuição desta espécie é particularmente signifi cativa em zonas onde têm ocorrido acontecimentos climáticos graves e onde os níveis de desertifi cação humana são críticos. A fi leira da cortiça salienta-se por Portugal ocupar o primeiro lugar entre os países produtores, transformadores e exportadores de cortiça, correspondendo-lhe mais de metade da produção mundial desta matéria-prima. O nosso País é a origem de aproximadamente 60% das transacções de cortiça a nível mundial, valor que sobe para 80% quando nos referimos a transacções de produtos transformados. A nível nacional, o valor das exportações de cortiça representam aproximadamente 0,7% do PIB, 2,24% das exportações e correspondem a mais de 33% do conjunto das exportações de produtos fl orestais (APCOR, 2005). Para além da importância económica do sector corticeiro a nível nacional, o aumento da consciência e do interesse da sociedade nas questões ambientais, faz com que o montado de sobro seja reconhecido cada vez mais como um espaço fl orestal, de elevada biodiversidade, paisagísticamente único, que potencia micro-economias locais baseadas numa agricultura e pastorícia extensivas, interessante para outras actividades como o turismo rural e a caça. O sobreiro tem sido a espécie fl orestal que mais tem benefi ciado dos meios fi nanceiros disponibilizados aos proprietários fl orestais para a refl orestação no âmbito da aplicação das medidas de reforma da Política Agrícola Comum da UE, na arborização das terras agrícolas. Contudo, têm-se registado com frequência elevadas taxas de insucesso na arborização sendo a qualidade dos materiais florestais de reprodução (MFR) apontada como uma das causas. Neste trabalho abordaremos a a qualidade dos materiais de reprodução, considerando-a do ponto de vista genético e fisiológicoN/

Melhoramento do sobreiro para uma regeneração artificial sustentável

O sobreiro (Quercus suber) é uma espécie singular devido à sua importância no funcionamento do ecossistema mediterrânico e na produção de cortiça. No entanto, apesar da sua importância ecológica e sócio-económica, pouco se compreende ainda dos seus processos de adaptabilidade às diferentes condições ambientais. Em algumas áreas do mediterrâneo ocidental, as florestas de sobreiro encontram-se em declínio e a manutenção destes ecossistemas requer a compreensão do seu funcionamento (e.g. regeneração, crescimento e interações entre hospedeiro e pragas/doenças). Para além de uma crescente redução da área de floresta, o sobreiro apresenta geralmente uma reduzida regeneração natural. Nos últimos anos, largas áreas de sobreiro foram reflorestadas no entanto, a regeneração artificial, quer por sementeira quer por plantação, obteve resultados variáveis com baixas taxas de sobrevivência. Apesar da necessidade de melhorar o manuseamento das sementes e das técnicas de produção e plantação ser geralmente reconhecida pelos proprietários florestais, a utilização de material genético adequado é quase sempre ignorada. De forma a dar resposta a alguns destes problemas está em curso o projeto PTDC/AGR-AAM/104364/2008: Melhoramento do sobreiro para uma regeneração artificial sustentável, que tem como principal objetivo melhorar a qualidade genética e fisiológica do material reprodutivo de sobreiro usado nas arborizações, focando-se em três aspetos essenciais: adaptabilidade da espécie, armazenamento da semente a longo prazo e produção de semente. Este é um trabalho multidisciplinar onde se integram os resultados de várias perspetivas – ecofisiológica, genética quantitativa e biologia molecular – de forma a compreender as suas interações e avaliar a plasticidade fenotípica, particularmente em condições de secura, contribuindo para ajustar os limites das regiões de proveniência e definir zonas de transferência de sementes

Characterization of the cork oak transcriptome dynamics during acorn development

Background: Cork oak (Quercus suber L.) has a natural distribution across western Mediterranean regions and is a keystone forest tree species in these ecosystems. The fruiting phase is especially critical for its regeneration but the molecular mechanisms underlying the biochemical and physiological changes during cork oak acorn development are poorly understood. In this study, the transcriptome of the cork oak acorn, including the seed, was characterized in five stages of development, from early development to acorn maturation, to identify the dominant processes in each stage and reveal transcripts with important functions in gene expression regulation and response to water. Results: A total of 80,357 expressed sequence tags (ESTs) were de novo assembled from RNA-Seq libraries representative of the several acorn developmental stages. Approximately 7.6 % of the total number of transcripts present in Q. suber transcriptome was identified as acorn specific. The analysis of expression profiles during development returned 2,285 differentially expressed (DE) transcripts, which were clustered into six groups. The stage of development corresponding to the mature acorn exhibited an expression profile markedly different from other stages. Approximately 22 % of the DE transcripts putatively code for transcription factors (TF) or transcriptional regulators, and were found almost equally distributed among the several expression profile clusters, highlighting their major roles in controlling the whole developmental process. On the other hand, carbohydrate metabolism, the biological pathway most represented during acorn development, was especially prevalent in mid to late stages as evidenced by enrichment analysis. We further show that genes related to response to water, water deprivation and transport were mostly represented during the early (S2) and the last stage (S8) of acorn development, when tolerance to water desiccation is possibly critical for acorn viability. Conclusions: To our knowledge this work represents the first report of acorn development transcriptomics in oaks. The obtained results provide novel insights into the developmental biology of cork oak acorns, highlighting transcripts putatively involved in the regulation of the gene expression program and in specific processes likely essential for adaptation. It is expected that this knowledge can be transferred to other oak species of great ecological value.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologi

Nonlinear and Oblique Boundary Value problems for the Lame

Abstract In this paper, we generalized B. Merouani's [10], M. Dilmi's [5] and P. Grisvard's [7] works in the case when the Lame's system is perturbed with Diriclet boundary condition on one part and non linear condition one on the other part. To achieve this goal, we consider the approached problem and we solved this last problem by using Brézi's contraction metho